February 26th Incident
The February 26th Incident The February 26th Incident was an attempted coup by Officers of the Imperial Japanese Army stationed in Tokyo, the main leader of the revolt was KenjiDoihara and Minoru_Genda. It was carried out in the intents of removing most of the Prime Minister's powers, it was partly successful by the end of the day. Leading up to the Incident Before the incident took place mass officer purges took place, but many in the army believed this was unfair due to many corrupt and fairly inactive being kept in power. So in January a plan was devised by a small group of Officers and Soldiers stationed in Tokyo, the plan would take place on February 26th aimed at killing many political opponents mainly those in the Army. The main target was Hisaichi_Terauchi and taking the Imperial Palace, in the end both these targets failed and most of the group was executed with a short and bias trial. Only KenjiDoihara, MinoruGenda, and a few others had survived. The Incident First Day On the first day of the 26th, KenjiDoihara set out to the the Yasukuni Shrine and MinoruGenda lead his own force towards the Kenpeitai Headquarters. At the Yasukuni shrine Kenji took over the Shrine and then moved to a large hotel near the Shrine, setting up their sub-HQ there. At the Kenpeitai HQ MinoruGenda and his force had stormed the building and only suffered 3 casualties to killing all 24 Kenpeitai inside the building, they then set up their main HQ there and prepared to storm the main Police HQ. 3 Hours into the raid and the Police HQ, Yasukuni Shrine, Kenpeitai HQ, and Saigo Hotel had all been taken. By that time the rest of the army had been notified and were dispatched to combat them, large skirmishes took place all day until the Army were forced back across the river. Second Day On the second day a large force of IJA had arrived to clear the Revolters out, lead by Hisaichi_Terauchi, 111111310 and DaiVietNam. At 8:35AM they stormed across the two main bridges with air support. Bombers cleared out most of the Revolter's defenses fo rcing them to retreat to the main two crossroads. On advancing an ambush was set up in the middle of the road and the SNLF and IJA were trapped under fire from all sides, forcing them to retreat. On the far right side however the advance continued and they reached the Kenpeitai HQ, intense fighting continued by the HQ for an hour. On the far left the advance continued with tank support and they reached the Yasukuni shrine in no time, the Kenpeitai HQ in the meanwhile was taken and both forces joined up to assault Saigo hotel. The assault was quick but deadly, many IJA were killed and the revolters managed to withdraw safetly. They then surrounded the Yasukuni Shrine and prepared to destroy the Revolters inside. Final Day At 10:00AM the Final Assault began, heavy shelling had destroyed many of the Shrine much to the displeasure of both sides. When the assault commenced the Revolters had positions on the roofs and courtyards, the courtyards were cleared very quickly and most of the fighting continued with the Revolters atop the Yasukuni and inside. In 2 hours the fighting had died down, and talks of a cease fire begun. Cease Fire and Aftermath A cease fire commenced and the Revolter's demands were met, it was not an IJA victory but not a strategic Revolter victory, instead it was a Strategic Victory for those involved in the coup. After the revolt ended many of the army was reformed and as such many revolutionary updates were made. Many of those who took part in the revolt were executed or left the army after the revolt. It was also found out that CNRA had provided heavy foreign aid, prompting IJA to invade them later in 1937.